Multiple sources say Tony Stewart ran over another driver tonight

I think rucket and compact99 are the same posters so i just ignored them. Let them rant. Facts are spilling out now and if them 2 ever sat in a sprint car with a full containment seat and hans device with a huge side wing they sure would be tooting a different horn. In fact at one time i actually wondered if sprints should be shut down due to all the recent issues. But they are a blast to watcb and i have alot of respect for the dudes who drive them. Simply unbeivable car control
 
so now we know the kid grabbed the wing and held on...we also know Stewart gassed the motor...and it sure looks to me like the rear end of Stewarts car is moving up the track towards him slightly ??..i dunno...its suspicious at the least ...maybe the rear wheel is coming at him and he jumped up to avoid it and hangs on..or he was so mad he jumped on the wing in which case, thats one of the stupidest things anyone could do..and you die ?....
 
Yes, actually about 12.999999 seconds to react. That is the amount of time it took the spoiled brat to leave his car and make it to Tony's car.

Do you have first hand knowledge of Kevin Ward Jr.? I doubt it. So your assumption of the young man is taken from where? I'm not saying who was right or wrong in this mess but I think that there was a whole lot of wrong on both sides that caused this. Anyone that says you have to gas a sprint up to turn it in my mind is full of well sh*t. I've seen people avoid people by simply turning. My first reaction to seeing someone that I may hit would be a brake pedal. But it is what it is and the outcome doesn't change. Tony's gonna have to live with it and Kevin's dead. Sad state of affairs.
 
Do you have first hand knowledge of Kevin Ward Jr.? I doubt it. So your assumption of the young man is taken from where? I'm not saying who was right or wrong in this mess but I think that there was a whole lot of wrong on both sides that caused this. Anyone that says you have to gas a sprint up to turn it in my mind is full of well sh*t. I've seen people avoid people by simply turning. My first reaction to seeing someone that I may hit would be a brake pedal. But it is what it is and the outcome doesn't change. Tony's gonna have to live with it and Kevin's dead. Sad state of affairs.
You need to have driven a sprint to know you HAVE to gas it to turn hard. Rear end is locked and small front tires. If he would hit the brakes thing would have done a 360. Sure are alot of NEW members posting the same thing and disliking alot lol. Some people have nothing else to do i guess. Jimmy dearing am i correct in my assumption?
 
if any race car has the correct front end set up it should pull to the left when the wheel is released..this is done with caster and camber to the front end also with roll out (taller tire to the outside-smaller on the LR) this is not my opinion -it is fact
 
if any race car has the correct front end set up it should pull to the left when the wheel is released..this is done with caster and camber to the front end also with roll out (taller tire to the outside-smaller on the LR) this is not my opinion -it is fact
You are correct sir. Braking or getting off the gas fast can make it faster and more significant. I learned that lesson the hard way at Lake Hill. Bottom line, car racing as a whole is being tried right now in the court of public opinion. The more we beat on this does no good. We can only say a prayer for all those involved and let it take its course.
 
You need to have driven a sprint to know you HAVE to gas it to turn hard. Rear end is locked and small front tires. If he would hit the brakes thing would have done a 360. Sure are alot of NEW members posting the same thing and disliking alot lol. Some people have nothing else to do i guess. Jimmy dearing am i correct in my assumption?

So I assume you raced sprint cars for years?
 
So I assume you raced sprint cars for years?
shucky darns sure didn't But i did pit and work on them for couple of years. My name is under my nic and have yet to hear of your "experience". Let alone who you are and what type of "horsepower" car you have raced. I ran sportsmans for 8 yrs by the way and got to know of several sprint drivers pretty well. (Insert stupid face icon here)
 
While there have been some good opinions here there is one thing for sure and that is that none of us were in the car to know what really happened. I am guilty for thinking stewart hit him on purpose when the news first broke about the accident. The headlines and everything was pointing to it being something that was done purposely. After seeing video and everything it all starts to look clearer. I removed any negative comments about the situation and seen my way out of it being i wasn't there. There have been some great articles on the way a sprint car drives to kinda give us a idea of how these machines work. If Ward would have only stayed in his car then this wouldn't even be a topic. We all know tempers flare while racing. Why he felt the need to run at Tonys car is beyond me. If your mad and feel like you need to exit your car then at least stand out of harms way and throw the arms up as he is passing. Or be a tough guy and go visit him in the pits. Ya may have got your a $ $ kicked but at least you would live to talk about it. Tony and the Ward family have to live with this forever. Of coarse the Wards will blame Tony. That's a given. I am not a fan of Stewart and i know he has a heck of a temper but i know he wouldn't run someone over purposely. We can all sit here and speculate what did and didn't happen but it wont change a thing. The only thing any of us racers can learn out of this whole deal is to stay in your car in situations like this. Staying in your car will ensure that you will go home to your family and live to race another day. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and that is fine. But we are not law enforcement or investigators in this case. Let them do their jobs to tell us what happened and not what we assume happened. So ill end my rant now but just remember if you want to go home to your family after the races please stay in your car so there isn't another terrible accident like this one.
 
I think rucket and compact99 are the same posters so i just ignored them. Let them rant. Facts are spilling out now and if them 2 ever sat in a sprint car with a full containment seat and hans device with a huge side wing they sure would be tooting a different horn. In fact at one time i actually wondered if sprints should be shut down due to all the recent issues. But they are a blast to watcb and i have alot of respect for the dudes who drive them. Simply unbeivable car control
I think rucket and compact99 are the same posters so i just ignored them. Let them rant. Facts are spilling out now and if them 2 ever sat in a sprint car with a full containment seat and hans device with a huge side wing they sure would be tooting a different horn. In fact at one time i actually wondered if sprints should be shut down due to all the recent issues. But they are a blast to watcb and i have alot of respect for the dudes who drive them. Simply unbeivable car control

Hmm, so you assume on no facts at all. You go from someone making paragraph remarks that make sense to someone that can barely type one sentence..... This is why public communication is so useless. Too many little kids.
 
if any race car has the correct front end set up it should pull to the left when the wheel is released..this is done with caster and camber to the front end also with roll out (taller tire to the outside-smaller on the LR) this is not my opinion -it is fact

Good one Lenny.
 
While there have been some good opinions here there is one thing for sure and that is that none of us were in the car to know what really happened. I am guilty for thinking stewart hit him on purpose when the news first broke about the accident. The headlines and everything was pointing to it being something that was done purposely. After seeing video and everything it all starts to look clearer. I removed any negative comments about the situation and seen my way out of it being i wasn't there. There have been some great articles on the way a sprint car drives to kinda give us a idea of how these machines work. If Ward would have only stayed in his car then this wouldn't even be a topic. We all know tempers flare while racing. Why he felt the need to run at Tonys car is beyond me. If your mad and feel like you need to exit your car then at least stand out of harms way and throw the arms up as he is passing. Or be a tough guy and go visit him in the pits. Ya may have got your a $ $ kicked but at least you would live to talk about it. Tony and the Ward family have to live with this forever. Of coarse the Wards will blame Tony. That's a given. I am not a fan of Stewart and i know he has a heck of a temper but i know he wouldn't run someone over purposely. We can all sit here and speculate what did and didn't happen but it wont change a thing. The only thing any of us racers can learn out of this whole deal is to stay in your car in situations like this. Staying in your car will ensure that you will go home to your family and live to race another day. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and that is fine. But we are not law enforcement or investigators in this case. Let them do their jobs to tell us what happened and not what we assume happened. So ill end my rant now but just remember if you want to go home to your family after the races please stay in your car so there isn't another terrible accident like this one.
Well said tom!
 
I've been following this since it happened. It appears that Tony Stewart may very well end up being charged with something related to this incident. While it seems pretty obvious he isn't some psychopathic murderer, there is still a lot of issues relating to being aware of the surroundings you are in and acting in a manner considered irresponsible for those circumstances.

He's an experienced racer. He's raced hundreds of times, and no doubt on many dimly lit tracks. He has been under caution hundreds of times on race tracks, he is well aware there can be people walking around on the track under caution. There is no doubt he hits the guy, and everyone else doesn't. Does this make him a cold blooded killer with the intent? Absolutely not. Does it make him negligent under those conditions, and does his negligence result in the death of another person?

That is the question the authorities are going to have to evaluate and see where the facts lead them. While I don't think he deliberately did anything at all to hurt the kid and had no intention of hurting him, the fact remains that his action or lack of proper care and caution to avoid the kid under those circumstances resulted in that kid's death.

I remember the first time the caution flags came out when I raced. I was brand new at the whole thing and in my own little world, not really as aware of what was going on outside the car as I now know you have to be. I was looking at the dash, or thinking about something else, just not totally tuned in and the next thing I know I am seeing a guy in a white uniform 25 feet ahead of me walking across the track and was a little startled.

That was my wake up call. Under caution, pay attention even more and look for people on the track, because they might just be there when you least expect it. I am just glad I didn't hit Red that night, but I so easily could have out of inexperience. Tony Stewart doesn't have the luxury of that as an excuse.

I think its horrible all the way around, but the fact remains that he may very well end up being held culpable for a lesser charge related to the guy's death. And racers everywhere need to take notice of that lesson. Sure, don't get out of your car. But also, keep your eyes peeled under caution and don't get distracted looking at other stuff. What you miss in front of you can end disastrously.
 
Look at the video again. There are multiple versions on YouTube that are in slow motion and zoomed in.

Notice that Ward grabbed the wing, and tried to run along side of TS's car, before he slipped and was sucked under the tire.

To assume TS is guilty of anything is irresponsible at best and a total knee jerk, emotionally charged, uninformed opinion at worst.

TS had 1.2 seconds, from the time the 45 car passed Ward and he became visible, to recognize a potential problem, formulate a plan of action, & impliment that action, all the while, Ward was continuing his aggressive confrontation.
 
Look at the video again. There are multiple versions on YouTube that are in slow motion and zoomed in.

Notice that Ward grabbed the wing, and tried to run along side of TS's car, before he slipped and was sucked under the tire.

To assume TS is guilty of anything is irresponsible at best and a total knee jerk, emotionally charged, uninformed opinion at worst.

TS had 1.2 seconds, from the time the 45 car passed Ward and he became visible, to recognize a potential problem, formulate a plan of action, & impliment that action, all the while, Ward was continuing his aggressive confrontation.


Knee jerk, emotionally charged, uninformed opinion? Really?

So, this guy is flailing his arms all over the place, running all over the track, gesticulating, pointing at Stewart as he approaches, every other driver sees him and when Stewart arrives, Stewart only has a split instant to see him and avoid him. You are really trying to sell that line?

Notice the other cars approaching the spun out car of Ward slowing down and moving down to the bottom of the track, away from the obstacle. Like drivers are supposed to when a car is sitting turned around on the track, you know, try to give as much room as possible between your car and the wrecked/spun out car.

Not so with Stewart. He doesn't play "follow the leader", no, he stays up in the middle groove.

And don't try and sell me this line that he couldn't see Ward's car sitting sideways on the top of the track coming down the back straight. Regardless of whether or not he saw Ward himself, (although quite frankly with the scene he was making any driver would have to be totally incompetent and blind not to be aware that something unusual was making all the cars in front of you swerve to the left,) he HAD to see that car sitting sideways. And he did not move to the bottom to give the track workers all the possible room to get to that car, like drivers are supposed to. No, he comes barreling down the middle of the track and then we are all supposed to buy this line that Tony never had any chance to react, and Ward just magically threw himself under the charging vehicle.

Right. He "grabbed the wing of the car." To do what? Physically restrain it? Use his body as an anchor to stop the vehicle? Or maybe..... just maybe... he grabbed onto whatever he could when he realized that Stewart wasn't going to just drive by like everyone else, but instead run right up at him/near him and he was in danger of going under the right rear. It doesn't look to me like he was grabbing that wing for any other reason than to keep himself from getting run over.

Like I said before, I don't believe for one minute Stewart was trying to hurt the guy or kill him intentionally. But there is a lot left to be desired in Stewart doing everything the could to avoid being anywhere near his car spun out on the track or to stay on the bottom and away from it, or to slow down, or to use prudent caution near him.

Like the kid's dad said, and everyone else can see from the video, every other driver out there managed to avoid running that kid over except Tony Stewart. At the very least he is guilty of not exercising the correct amount of caution, under caution. Like Fireball already said, and anyone who has ever driven a car set up to turn left, the darn thing wants to go left any time you let go of the wheel. If that car isn't tracking left, then someone is controlling it so it doesn't.

He had 1.2 seconds to recognize the potential problem, formulate a plan and take action? Really? No dude, he had half a lap under caution to see where the car was spun out, an entire back straight to see guys swerving to avoid something in the track right in front of him and 30 years of racing experience to formulate his plan to avoid running someone over on the track during a caution. Sell that to someone else, because I really think that in the end Tony Stewart could very well be held accountable for not exercising due care and caution and causing the death of another person through negligence.

And i'll throw this in for good measure, from personal experience running mid pack on the opening laps when the dust is flying and you really can't see. I was in turn one at TCS in the SS when the guy in front of me instantly turns right and tracks up toward the outside of the corner, not on the racing line at all. My reaction? Follow him, because obviously there is something in front of him causing him to swerve to the right. As it turned out, it was a spun car in the middle of 4. Anyone with some experience knows that when you see a guy in front of you swerve off line, you best follow him or you will hit what he's avoiding. Common racing sense. The blue car that stayed more to the bottom of the track swerved to avoid Ward. Stewart didn't see it? Maybe not. But if not, under caution, he is still responsible for not watching what was going on in front of him.
 
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Sooooo, boiling it down, because Tony was running a half lane higher than the car in front of him, and he didn't make the same reaction as the car in front of him, then he's guilty? Let's just throw out the opinions of people who have driven winged sprints, and forget the poorly lit track, the kid running around on it with a black fire suit, and the fact that he ran AT A RACECAR. Of course, you know that Tony had to be watching EVERYTHING in front of him, you were there in the car, right? Couldn't be he was grabbing a tearoff, adjusting the wing, or checking his gauges, right?
 




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